Mark Morris (author)

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For other persons named Mark Morris, see Mark Morris (disambiguation).

Mark Morris (born in 1963 in Bolsover) is an author most well known for his series of horror novels, although he has also written two novels based on the BBC Television series Doctor Who. He currently lives in Tadcaster with his wife (the artist Nel Whatmore) and their children, David and Polly. He has used the psuedonym J. M. Morris for the novel 'Fiddleback'.

[edit] Work

Novels:

Toady (1989)
Stitch (1991)
The Immaculate (1993)
The Secret of Anatomy (1994)
Mr. Bad Face (1996)
Longbarrow (1997)
Genesis (1998)
Fiddleback (2001)
The Uglimen (2003)
Nowhere Near An Angel (2005)
The Deluge (2007)
Stumps (2008)
It Sustains (2009)

Collections:

Close To The Bone (1995)
Voyages Into Darkness (with Stephen Laws)
Long Shadows, Nightmare Light (2008)

As Editor:

Cinema Macabre (2006)

Doctor Who:

The Bodysnatchers
Deep Blue
Forever Autumn
Ghosts Of India

Mark began his writing career in 1988 as part of the (now defunct) Enterprise Allowance Scheme, which was at that time paying claimants £30 a week to be self-employed. His first novel, Toady, was published in 1989 (re-titled The Horror Club and shortened by ⅓ for the US market) and several further books followed: Stitch, The Immaculate, The Secret of Anatomy, Mr Bad Face, Longbarrow, Genesis and Nowhere Near an Angel. Before 'Toady' he had written a novel called 'The Winter Tree', which was rejected by publishers by at least gained him some familiarity with them. In addition to his major works, Morris has published the novellas The Dogs (for Barrington Stoke, an imprint for 'reluctant readers') and The Uglimen.

He has also published two volumes of short stories, Close to the Bone and Voyages into Darkness (with Stephen Laws) and a novel as "J.M. Morris": Fiddleback (which was re-named The Lonely Places and had a slightly longer epilogue for the US market, which the author claims was "in order to (quote from US editor): 'clarify matters for a US readership.'"[citation needed]). A further collection of short fiction, 'Separate Skins' was due for release from British small press publisher Tanjen, but the publisher went out of business around that time and the book - introduced by Graham Joyce - remains unpublished.

A fan of Doctor Who since being terrified by the show as a child, Mark has so far written 3 books for the BBC: The Body Snatchers for BBC Books' Eighth Doctor Adventures range, and the novel Deep Blue for their Past Doctor Adventures range, and Forever Autumn as part of the New Series Adventures range.

The novel 'Nowhere Near An Angel' was intended to be his second J. M. Morris novel for Macmillan, but they rejected it as they considered 'J. M. Morris' to be a female writer ('Fiddleback' was written from a female point of view), despite Mark's publicity appearances for the novel. 'Nowhere Near An Angel' was published by P. S. Publishing, and no further J. M. Morris novel are planned.

His early influences include British horror writer Ramsey Campbell and American horror writer Stephen King, though the tone of his early novels also led people to believe he would be the next Clive Barker. Morris met Campbell in Birmingham in 1986, and the older writer offered advice and the two later became friends.

He is currently published by the small press publishers PS Publishing and Humdrumming, Ltd., who are planning to reissue each of his early horror novels in new hardback additions with bonus material. His next novel will be the American-published 'The Deluge', in Winter 2007.

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